Henry price ball



(No Model.)

H. P. BALL. ADAPTER FOR INGANDESUBNT LAMP SOCKETS. No. 480,988. Patented Aug. 16, 1892.

Sfomnda wouuk, Qyi I $51.3 c1 OZMHQOJ7M NITED STATES PATENT @rrrcn.

HENRY PRICE HALL, OF SOHENEOTADY, ASSIGN OR TO THE EDISON GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, OF NENV YORK, N. Y.

ADAPTER FOR lNCANDESCENT-LAMP SOCKETS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 480,988, dated August 16, 1892.

Application filed May 7, 1892. Serial No. 432,136. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY PRICE BALL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Schenectady, county of Schenectady, and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Adapter for Sockets, of which the fol lowing is a specification.

The main object of the present invention is to make it possible to use regular Edison electric lamps in connection with regular Thomson-Houston sockets, without removing any part or parts of the latter and without changing the circuit connections, and to accomplish said result by the use of a simple de- I 5 vice which does not detract from the efliciency or ornamental appearance of the sockets and which can be inserted and removed easily and quickly.

The invention consists in the adapter described in the following specification, and in the combination thereof with a socket, as described.

While the invention is illustrated in connection with a well-known form of lamp- 2 5 socket, it will be clear that other electrical devices besides lamps can be used in the adapter, provided they have terminals corresponding to those of the socket and the adapter.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating the invention, Figure 1 is a side View, partly in section, of a lamp-socket of the well-known Thomson-Houston form, with an adapter in place therein. Figs. 2 and 3 are views of the adapter, looking from above and from below, respectively. Fig. 4 is a plan View of the lamp-socket with the adapter removed; and Fig. 5 is a central section of a modified form of adapter.

The adapter in its preferred form consists of a threaded sheet-metal shell 1, adapted to receive the screw-threaded base of an ordinary Edison electric lamp ora corresponding part of other electrical apparatus. Around the shell is an insulating sleeve or coating 2, which may extend for any desired distance along the outer surface of the sleeve. The base of the sleeve is provided with an inwardly-extending flange or part 3, and within this end of the sleeve is an insulating-disk 4, having a screw-threaded opening 5 at its center. It is not essential that the part 3, which forms the end contact of the adapter, should be integral with the sleeve orshell 1 but it must be electrically connected therewith. The disk 4 is secured in place in the sleeve by any suitable meansfor example, by molding it in the sleeve, the latterbeingroughened, as indicated at 6, so that a good hold is obtained between said parts. The sleeve 2 is held in place in a similar manner. The lamp-socket is provided with a central screw-threaded terminal 7 and an edge or side terminal 8, which may, if desired, be in the form of a curved strip concentric with the screw 7, although this form is not essential, it only being necessary to have a contact in position to co-operate with the corresponding terminal of the lamp designed for use in the socket. This edge terminal is in such a position that the flange 3will rest in contactwith it when the adapter is in the socket.

9 is the sheet-metal shell of the socket.

The sleeve-adapter is put in position by screwing the disk donto the screw-terminal 7. This draws the inwardly-turned flange 3 firm- 7 5 1y against the edge or side terminal of the socket, causing said parts to make excellent electrical contact, and the thickness of the insulating-disk is such that the screw terminal will project through it far enough to be in position to make contact with the central or plug terminal of an Edison lamp or a similar terminal of other electrical apparatus. When the adapter is in place, its sleeve 1 will be thoroughly insulated from the shell of the socket by the insulating-coating 2. This will also prevent users accidentally touching the part of the sleeve-terminal which projects beyond the shell of the socket.

Instead of using an insulating-sleeve of considerable thickness around the sleeve 1, as indicated in Fig. 1, a thin coating of insulating-paint can be placed directly on the sleeve, as indicated at 2, Fig. 5, and instead of the insulating-disk .ithe metal disk 4: can be used, provided it is thoroughly insulated from the sleeve, as indicated at 10. The construction described in connection with Fig. l is, hoW- ever, preferred by reason of the fact that there is less danger of a short circuit being accidentally formed.

Without confining myself to all of the de tails specified, What I claim is 1. An adapter for sockets, consisting of a sleeve suitable to receive the base of a lamp or other electrical device, the sleeve having an inwardly-extending flange or part at its base, an insulating or insulated disk in said end of the sleeve and havinga central screwthreaded hole, substantially as described.

2. An adapter for sockets, consisting of a sleeve suitable to receive the base of a lamp or other electrical device, the sleeve having an inwardlyturned flange or part at its base, an insulating or insulated disk in said end of the sleeve and havinga central screw-threaded hole, and means for insulating the upper end of said sleeve, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with a socket having two terminals adapted to make contact with two terminals of a lamp or other device, of an adapter having but one terminal and utilizing one terminal of said socket, whereby the socket can be used forlamps of different characters, substantially as described.

l. The combination, with a socket having a central terminal and an edge or side terminal and adapted to receive a lamp or other device, of an adapter having a sleeve-terminal only, said adapter being held in the socket, but not entirely covering the central socketterminal, whereby by adding a single terminal and by employing one of the socket-terminals the same socket can be used for difi'erent characters of lamps or devices, substantially as described.

5. The combination, with a socket having a central screw and an edge or side terminal, of an adapter having a sleeve to receive a lamp or other electrical device, and a base, the latter adapted to screw onto the central screw, substantially as described.

0. The combination, with a socket having a central screw and an edge or side terminal, of an adapter having a sleeve to receive a lamp or other electrical device, an outer insulating sleeve or coating, and a base, the latter adapted to screw onto the central screw, substan- 5o tially as described.

This specification signed and witnessed this 5th day of May, 1892.

HENRY PRICE BALL. \Vitnesses:

AMAND Us METZGER, W. E. GILMORE. 

